Nine reasons a website doesn't show on Google

In the order they usually turn out to be the cause. The checker tests most of these automatically.

1. Google doesn't know it exists yet

New sites with no links pointing at them can sit unseen for weeks.

Fix: Add the site to Search Console, submit the sitemap, request indexing for the home page.

2. A noindex tag or 'hide from search' setting

Site builders add this to pages marked hidden, and to whole sites left in 'coming soon' or 'under construction' mode.

Fix: Turn the setting off per page (Wix: Page SEO settings; WordPress: Reading settings and SEO plugin; Squarespace: page settings).

3. robots.txt blocks crawling

A single 'Disallow: /' line, often left from development, keeps Google out of every page.

Fix: Edit robots.txt so Googlebot is allowed; keep Disallow only for admin areas.

4. The page errors or needs a login

Server errors, expired hosting, password protection or a firewall that challenges bots.

Fix: Fix hosting, remove the password from public pages, allow Googlebot through the firewall.

5. It's indexed but you can't find it

The site exists in Google but ranks far down for the words you tried.

Fix: Search site:yourdomain.com. If pages appear, the problem is ranking, not indexing: content, titles, local profile, links.

6. Canonical points elsewhere

The page tells Google that another address is the 'real' one, so that one gets indexed instead.

Fix: Set the canonical to the page itself unless it really is a duplicate.

7. Wrong address variant

http vs https, www vs non-www, trailing slashes: four versions of the same site confuse indexing.

Fix: Pick one and 301-redirect the others to it.

8. Content loads only with JavaScript

Google can render JavaScript, but later, and sometimes not at all for weak sites.

Fix: Make sure the main text is in the HTML, or use a platform that pre-renders.

9. A manual penalty or removal request

Rare, but a site that was hacked or spammy can be removed.

Fix: Search Console → Security & Manual actions shows it, with a reconsideration process.

Google Search Central: crawling and indexing · checked Oct 2026